


Her Vorpal Sword in Hand

by Sangerin



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly
Genre: Community: femslash_minis, Crossover, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-16
Updated: 2005-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-19 15:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/202205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangerin/pseuds/Sangerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark hair, haunted eyes.  Pretty.  Shiny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Vorpal Sword in Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladylakira](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ladylakira).



> No _Serenity_ spoilers, I promise. Written before I saw it. Many thanks (and hugs) to [](http://wisdomeagle.livejournal.com/profile)[**wisdomeagle**](http://wisdomeagle.livejournal.com/) for the beta. Title and other references to "Jabberwocky" from _Through the Looking Glass_ by Lewis Carroll. For the Cordelia round at [](http://femslash-minis.livejournal.com/profile)[**femslash_minis**](http://femslash-minis.livejournal.com/).

She whispers nonsense words, moving her mouth down. _Jubjub_ , she says, and her tongue flicks against the girl’s nipple. There’s a moan, a soft giggle. ‘Again.’

 _Jubjub, burble, tumtum tree_.

More delighted giggles, and Cordelia smiles against River’s skin.

* * *

‘There’s a girl,’ she says, ‘With dark hair, dark eyes. She has friends, but they’ll leave her, or she’ll leave them. Torn away.’

No one breaks the sudden silence.

‘Long dark hair.’ Looks down the length of the blade. ‘Pain. Pain, loss, betrayal. Not ready to leave, ripped away. Dark hair, haunted.’

They focus on the glint of silver. No one moves.

‘Pretty,’ says River, her attention shifting. She gazes into the distance and moves away. The knife lays on the table, rocking slightly for a moment until Jayne snatches it.

‘Damned crazy…’

‘Well, don’t go leaving your knives where she can get at them,’ says Kaylee. She watches as Simon disappears, following his sister into the depths of _Serenity_. ‘You know what she’s like.’

* * *

Zoe comes face to face with her, almost thinks she’s imagining things. Long dark hair and haunted eyes. Plain clothing and bare feet. And a sword in her hand that has Zoe backing away. The woman – girl, so lost and lonely-looking, Zoe can’t call her ‘woman’ – lifts the sword and looks up and down the blade, and Zoe is back in the mess, motionless and watching River’s intensity.

‘You want to put that sword down, honey?’ she says. This is not River: perhaps this girl will listen.

The girl shifts her gaze and looks straight into Zoe’s eyes. Zoe sees fear for a moment, which makes no sense. She’s not the one with the sword.

‘Where am I?’ asks the girl, sword still raised.

Zoe isn’t sure she knows anymore. The sun glints off the blade. ‘One of the outer planets. There’s a town over there – I don’t know its name. We’re just here while the captain…’

‘Planets? Okay then,’ says the girl. ‘Planets.’ She looks around her again, lifts one foot as though she’s only just realising it is bare. She lowers the sword, resting the point on the ground to give her some balance.

‘Listen, are you lost? You can come back to Serenity with me. We’ll have food, now we’re planetside, more than just that protein muck. Captain…’ She lies. ‘Captain won’t mind.’

‘Thank you.’

‘It’s a walk,’ she warns, but the girl doesn’t answer. ‘You got a name?’

The girl hesitates, thinking, remembering, then nods. ‘Cordelia.’

‘Been out here long?’

Again, the girl considers. ‘I don’t think so. But then, I’m not sure I know anything.’

‘Oh, you’ll fit in just fine,’ mutters Zoe.

* * *

Kaylee mothers, hugging the girl who won’t give up her sword. Kaylee yells at Jayne when he complains – crazy bitches – and glares at the Captain, who glowers back.

Inara and Zoe look at each other. ‘Another one?’ Pretty Inara tries to hide the words, but she sees and knows.

Simon says it’s just shock.

‘It’s just shock.’

He can’t examine her the way he did Riversister back on Ariel, where everything was bad. He can do tests, though, with needles and threads of light and humming and tapping and he says it’s not permanent.

‘No damage.’ Not like sister.

The girl needs rest and food and shelter and Simonbrother wants them to provide it, Serenity for Cordelia, because they can. Shepherdbook agrees, but he won’t shout, won’t argue with Captain.

Simon will. Simon does. Simon wins and Kaylee finds the girlwithsword a room in guest quarters. A room next to hers.

Dark hair, haunted eyes. Pretty. Shiny.

* * *

She wakes up in a square boxy room, and once she gets over the surprise of not being dead – didn’t she remember a hospital? Bright lights and telephones, and a kiss. She remembers a kiss – she sees the sword in the corner and remembers the girl.

And suddenly, without the pain she used to have and the flashes and the disorientation, suddenly it all makes sense. And somehow she can grasp the ‘outer planets’ and the future and even the swearing in Chinese she vaguely heard earlier. She knows why she’s there and it’s because of the girl, the special girl. The girl next door.

Cordelia gets up, opens the door and then the one to the next room. Leans against the doorpost and looks in on the other girl. ‘You’re special.’

She’s curled up on the bed, not asleep. Waiting.

‘Brother says damaged. Jayne says crazy. School says valuable.’

‘I say special.’ Cordelia moves inside the room and slides the door closed.

‘I’ve been waiting for you.’

‘You knew.’

‘You were hurting. I felt you.’

Cordelia sits down on the bed.

‘Do you miss them?’ asks River, soft, low, hand reaching out.

‘I wasn’t expecting this,’ Cordelia answers. ‘Instead of death, and maybe heaven – it might exist, I might be that lucky – I get this. A couple of hours of complete confusion, and now, knowing why I’m here.’

‘Because of me?’

‘Because of you. And because last time I gave birth to a murdering evil goddess that looks a lot like your second-in-command,’ and suddenly she’s confused again, momentarily.

‘She’s scary but good,’ says River, emphatically. She, at least, has some certainty. ‘And she loves Wash. And he’s crazy.’

There’s a whole world here Cordelia wants to learn about.

‘There’s time,’ says River.

‘Are you reading my mind?’ asks Cordelia, raising a hand to brush River’s cheek.

River mirrors her actions, then tucks a loose strand of hair behind Cordelia’s ear. ‘Yes.’

In the silence they move closer together. ‘So pretty,’ says River.

‘You, too,’ says Cordelia as River kisses her.

* * *

‘What do you see when you look in my mind?’ asks Cordelia. She is kissing her way lightly along River’s collarbone, one hand on the other girl’s soft, small breast.

 _Slithy toves_ , and she doesn’t know if River said it out aloud or whether it was a thought within her own head.

She hears giggles and feels the shudders as she works lower and lower.

 _Gyre and gimble in the wabe_ , and River plays word games in Cordelia’s head.

There’s time, she hears, feels, knows. Time before things have to happen. Time before River’s time comes.

 _You’re welcome_.

Cordelia smiles.


End file.
